Advanced biotechnology research is nowadays focusing on multiplexed biological assays, which require high reproducibility and reliability. Recently, a cartridge for automated medical diagnostics, as described in WO 2007/004103, has proved to be a promising yet simple and practical solution. Such a cartridge usually contains all necessary equipment and reagents to run said diagnostic assays on a biological sample. The equipment in particular comprises various reagent compartments and a preparation chamber wherein a sample to be analyzed can be introduced and contacted with said reagents contained in the compartments. To allow the introduction of the biological sample in the preparation chamber, the latter usually comprises an introduction aperture through which the biological sample can be introduced by the user via a swab.
Preferably, the introduction aperture must be sealed once the biological sample has been introduced in the preparation chamber in order to avoid leakages and/or contaminations. Usually, a closure device is designated to insure a tamper-proof sealing of the preparation chamber during and/or after the diagnostic assays, meaning that the preparation chamber cannot be reopened by the user under normal use conditions. Thus, this prevents any direct contamination of the user or of the biological material contained in the preparation chamber and vice-versa. A cartridge that is sealed in such a tamper-proof manner will also ensure that the introduction opening will not be untimely reopened while the assay is running, which would invalidate the result of the biological assays due to possible contaminations of the preparation chamber.
A typical closure device existing in the art comprises a support and a closure element mounted movably in translation relative to the support between an extended position and a retracted position wherein the closure device is in a retracted configuration and wherein the closure element closes said aperture. The typical closure device further includes locking means for preventing movement of, the closure element once the latter is placed in the retracted position.
A cartridge equipped with this closure device presents however disadvantages:
The classical closure device may close untimely before the introduction of a biological sample which could render the cartridge unusable. One will understand that a user may easily and inadvertently close the introduction aperture by simply pushing the closure element prior to introducing the biological sample. The untimely closure may also occur during the packaging and/or transport of the cartridge.
The present invention aims to remedy all or part of the disadvantages mentioned above.